''The Bike Ride'', ''Bike Round'' or ''Boy on the Bike'' is a 1973

advert Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

for the bread maker

Hovis Hovis Ltd is a British company that produces flour and bread. The brand originated in Stoke-on-Trent and was first mass-produced in Macclesfield, Cheshire, in 1886. It became part of Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) in 1962 after a succession of merge ...

. It was directed by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

Production

''Boy on the Bike'' was one of five adverts that

directed for Hovis in the early 70's. The advert shows a boy (played by Carl Barlow) pushing his bicycle laden with loaves of bread up a picturesque English

cobbled Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...

street. A voice over, presumably of the boy at a later age, nostalgically describes the trip while a recording of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" is played by the Ashington Colliery Band. Despite the common belief that it was set in the

North of England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

, the advert was filmed on

Gold Hill, Shaftesbury Gold Hill is a steep cobbled street in the town of Shaftesbury in the English county of Dorset. The view looking down from the top of the street has been described as "one of the most romantic sights in England." At the top of the street is ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

and the voice-over is also narrated in a

West Country accent West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country. The West Country is often defined as encompassi ...

. The misidentification of location could possibly be because of the strong association of brass bands with "northernness". One reason, for the choice of location, being that the street, and its tumbledown cottages with steep eaves, embodies '

Merry Old England "Merry England", or in more jocular, archaic spelling "Merrie England", refers to a utopian conception of English society and culture based on an idyllic pastoral way of life that was allegedly prevalent in Early Modern Britain at some time b ...

', adding to the nostalgia of the piece.

Reception

It has repeatedly been named one of Britain's most loved adverts. In 2006 it was voted the nation's favourite advertisements of all time. It was chosen as the best advert of the 70's in a 2018

YouGov YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...

poll. In 2019 it was named the 'most iconic' advert of the past 60 years to that point. The advert's popularity has been put down to its nostalgia for 'wholesome images of village life', as well Scott's visual direction. Gold Hill, where the advert was filmed, has been a popular location for films and merchandise since and a memorial to Hovis now stands at the top of the hill. Hovis and the BFI restored the advert for use in 2019 in an attempt to unite a divided nation. It was criticised for reminding those who voted to remain

Brexit referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

of how little they had in common with those who voted to leave.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bike Ride, The 1973 in British television 1973 works 1970s television commercials Films directed by Ridley Scott British television commercials